Archive for Taxpayers Bill of Rights
Recent Stories for Taxpayers Bill of Rights
Romanoff leads TABOR crusade
Category: TABOR · State: Colorado · Source: Denver Post
The man flagging down passersby outside the Colorado Convention Center wanted change — not quarters, but a controversial change to the state constitution that would undo part of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. The petition-wielding House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, the state's third-most powerful politician, manned the walkway Saturday trying to find a pitch to stop DNC volunteers streaming by and convince them to support his ballot initiative. After Gov. Bill Ritter, the teachers union and fellow lawmakers stopped short of fully supporting his initiative, Romanoff launched his own quest for the ballot, personally collecting 1,500 signatures and speaking across the state. The campaign is underfunded and faces both a saturated ballot and a distracted public — but with 90,000 signatures collected and more than a week before the Aug. 4 deadline, analysts say voters will likely see the proposal on the November ballot.
Ritter Questions TABOR Strategy
Category: TABOR · State: Colorado · Source: Denver Post
The rough political road for a proposed state-budget fix got even rougher Monday as Gov. Bill Ritter stopped short of endorsing it and the group expected to propel it to November's ballot expressed concern about funding, timing and other issues. "I don't know ultimately . . . if we're going to have the coalition together to put that on the ballot," Ritter said Monday of House Speaker Andrew Romanoff's plan in his monthly appearance on the Mike Rosen Show on KOA 850. The proposal, which would alter the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights and end mandated increases in education funding, started as a referendum, but Romanoff could not muster the support of two-thirds of state lawmakers — the requirement for it to go on the ballot. On Sunday, Romanoff said he would take the case straight to voters. The effort to proceed as a ballot initiative requires approval of the ballot language and then 76,000 signatures by Aug. 4.
TABOR Reform May Go Straight to the Voters
Category: TABOR · State: Colorado · Source: Durango Herald
Education advocates file for ballot initiative Facing resistance in the Legislature, education advocates may be taking their case for a partial Taxpayer's Bill of Rights repeal directly to the voters. Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff introduced a bill this week to take parts of two sacred cows out of the state constitution - TABOR, which limits how much money the state can collect, and Amendment 23, which requires increased spending on education. But on Friday, minutes before the deadline, education advocates filed a ballot initiative based on Romanoff's plan. The move gives Romanoff and his allies two options - they can continue pursuing a referendum, which needs support from two-thirds of the Legislature, or they can go for an initiative, which can be put on the ballot with citizen signatures. Voters would have the final say over either one this November. "I think we should solve this problem by referendum if possible, by initiative if necessary," said Romanoff, D-Denver.
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